Crime and genes

SCHEDULED to be held three years ago but
repeatedly postponed due to the raging
controversy surrounding it, the conference to debate on the possible relation
between Genetics and Criminal
Behaviour finally took place in the last
week of September at Maryland,
Washington DC. David Wasserman of
University of Maryland's Institute of
Philosophy and Public Policy, who
was the moving force behind the meeting sponsored by the National
Institutes of Health, intended it to be a
forum where "people with divergent
views listen to each other." instead it
degenerated into a veritable battleground, where protestors waving red
flags and chanting anti-fascist slogans
drowned the voices of the researchers
who had gathered to display their works
which they believed can prove that
genes can lead to violent and criminal
behaviour.

"It will be used for virtual genocide,"
predicted Rob Cook, a protestor from
Rutgers University, New Jersey, He and
his fellow campaigners are convinced
that the political implication of such
research could be devastating for certain
communities.